A Planet of Mystery
Earth's Sister
The morning star
Like a woman
An enigma, alluring
Veiled under a yellow cloud
If we lift the veil
A Planet of Women
Is revealed:
A vast plateau to the north
Is called Ishtar Terra
(The Babylonian Goddess of Love,
Fertility and Regeneration)
This is Ishtar's Reign
Another landmass is named
Aphrodite
(Greek Goddess of Sensual Love)
A Caldera is entitled Eve
A Monte; Rhea
After the Wife of Saturn
A Chasma is named Diana
(Goddess of the Hunt and
The Moon)
Venus,
Like any woman
Is unique and independent
Goddesses are a minority among Gods
She also revolves around The Sun
In her own way : retrograde
The Ultimate Femme-Fatale
Of Dawn and Dusk Skies
Her Beautiful and Mysterious atmosphere
Is a death trap
Of sulfuric acid,
carbon dioxide, neon
and argon nitrogen
Droplets of sulfuric acid
Continuously rain
In a thick atmosphere
With an air pressure of 90 times
That of Earth
She crushes the
Probes that
Are sent to her
Broken like Cupid's arrows.

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

The Universe is Olympia
The Planets are the Gods
And Mercury is their messenger
The smallest and the swiftest
Of them all
The closest to the Sun
With wings on his helmet
And sandals
Moving around the Sun
In a speedy 88 days
Your distinguishing craters,
Scarps and rupes on your
Coppery surface are named
After famous Artists and
Musicians:
Renoir, Raphael and Beethoven
Honored there for all eternity
On a never changing surface
A dead world for dead artists...
An unseen planet,
Like a mirror image
On the other side of your orbit
Hiding in the shadow of the Sun
Was called Vulcan
By 19th century astronomers
Once lived there in
The imaginations of men.

Mercury is the first Planet and the fastest.
Aka: Hermes [Greek]
Symbol: (see inset)
Sex: M
Planet No.: 1
Mean Dis.: 57,900,00Km. 36,093,450Miles
AU: .39 Range: 46-70 million km (31-47million miles)
Dia.: 4878km (3031miles)
Comp: nickel-iron, silicates (with a large iron core)
Color: red (coppery-grey)
Mass:* .05%
Gravity:* .38% (2x that of our Moon)
Length of 'day': 1,416 hrs (58.65 days)
Length of 'year': 87.97 days (@ a speed of 108,000mph)[48miles per sec]
Atmosphere: faint argon,neon & helium
Ave. Temp: +806F to -292F (+430C to -145C)
Discovered by: The Babylonians (first recording of it in written language)
Date: c. 1867BC
Exploration: Mariner 10 (between 1974-1975) made three active flybys after going into it's own orbit around the Sun.
Misc info: Other than it's scorched surfaces, battered by meteorites, comets and asteroids, Mercury has changed very little in 4 million years. It is considered a dead planet. Mercury only distinguishing marks on it's coppery surfaces are it's scarps or rupees (Latin for cliffs) such as 'Discovery Rupe' (Which is about 500km approx. 310miles wide) the other largest craters and rupes are named after famous artists and musicians such as Renoir, Raphael and Beethoven.
Time/light Dis: 3:48min

Saturday, October 22, 2011

Monday, October 17, 2011

Things That Orbit Our Sun
List of Heavenly Bodies in Our Solar System: (Selected)
only objects that have been named, relate to Mythology, or are 100km or larger are listed, (exceptions are noted are listed.)

"I am putting myself to the fullest possible use, which is all I think that any conscious entity can ever hope to do."
-Hal from 2001

Sunday, October 9, 2011

Mariner 10 is an American Robotic space probe launched by NASA on November 3, 1973, to fly by the planets Mercury and Venus. It was launched approximately two years after Mariner 9 and was the last spacccraft in the Mariner program. (Mariner 11 and 12 were allocated to the Voyager program and redesignated (Voyager 1 and Voyager 2) respectively. The mission objectives were to measure Mercury's environment, atmosphere, surface, and body characteristics and to make similar investigations of Venus. Secondary objectives were to perform experiments in the interplanetary medium and to obtain experience with a dual-planet gravity assist mission.

Mariner 10 is still orbiting the sun, although it's electronics have been damaged by the sun's radiation. Dave Williams of NASA's National Space Science Data Center said in 2005 that "[Mariner 10] has not been tracked or spotted from Earth since it stopped transmitting. We can only assume it's still orbiting [The Sun], but the only way it would not be orbiting would be if it had been hit by an asteroid or gravitationally perturbed by a close encounter with a large body, the odds of that happening are extremely small so it is assumed to still be in orbit."
Operator: NASA / JPL Mission type: Flyby of: Venus, Mercury Launch date: 1973-11-03 Launch vehicle: Atlas-Centaur Launch site: Space Launch Complex 36ACape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida Mission duration: Nov 3, 1973 – Mar 24, 1975 (1 year, 4 months, 22 days) Mass: 474 kg (1,040 lb) Power: (solar array) External Links: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariner_10